Using social policy to reduce inequality is almost precisely the opposite of the suggestion that Australia adopt a "universal basic income". Here’s an illustration of how that might work out. Suppose we got rid of all our current cash transfers and replaced them with a flat-rate universal basic income. Current spending would support a payment of around $6000 per person.

Every millionaire and billionaire would be thousands of dollars better off. But every pensioner would be in abject poverty -- barely able to buy food, let alone pay their bills. Australia’s social safety net reduces inequality by 10 Gini points, while a universal basic income -- by design -- has zero impact on inequality. So scrapping the social safety net in favour of a universal basic income would increase the Gini by 10 points -- making Australia as unequal as Latin America.

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